1. History and Approaches Review 2014

2. Its History The field is organized into waves – Schools of thought Each wave = a new school of thought

3. Wave 1: Introspection 1879 – Wilhelm Wundt – Set up 1 st Psych lab – Studied subjects and asked them to report their cognitive reactions to simple stimuli (introspection) Structuralism  the idea that objective stimuli lead to subjective emotions

4. Wave 1: con’t 1890  William James “The Principles of Psychology” Took Wundt’s structure of the mind and focused on its functions – Looks at the adaptation of the mind to its environment Other Wave One People: – Mary Whiton Calkins  1 st woman president of APA – Margaret Washburn  1 st PhD in Psych – G. Stanley Hall  1 st president of the APA

5. Wave 2: Gestalt Psych Led by German psychologist Max Wertheimer Sought to keep human thought and behavior as one entity Focused on ones whole experience rather than the accumulation of various perceptual experiences Ex: looking a at painting and then describing how it makes you feel; – The whole is greater than the sum of its parts

6. Wave 3: Psychoanalysis The work of Sigmund Freud Major focus: the unconscious mind; what determines how we think and behave – Builds over time through the repression of memories and traumatic events Unlocking the unconscious – Dream analysis, word association, and psychoanalytic therapy Largely discredited for being unscientific

7. Wave 4: Behaviorism Ivan Pavlov  father of Classical Conditioning John Watson  took Pavlov’s idea and applied it to humans – Ex: baby Albert experiment B. F. Skinner  Operant Conditioning – Behavior based on reinforcement or punishment The BIG picture – The ONLY aspect of importance is observable behavior Dominant from the 1920s – 1960s

8. Wave 5: Eclectic No one way of thinking of human thought and behavior The idea that one draws from multiple perspectives

9. The Perspectives DON’T GET CONFUSED WITH THE WAVES The waves are the different ways of thinking throughout the history of the field The PERSEPECTIVES analyze thought and behavior today

10. Humanist Perspective 1970s  a result of the reductionist ideas of the behaviorists Abraham Maslow (hierarchy) Carl Rogers (positive regard) Stressed individual choice and free will Our behaviors are guided by physiological, emotional, or spiritual needs Ex: in meeting social needs, an introverted person may satisfy this requirement by maintaining a small group of friends as opposed to a large one

11. Psychoanalytic Perspective As mentioned: – All behavior is rooted in the unconscious mind To understand our actions we must: – Examine our unconscious mind Back to our example of introversion: – If a person is introverted it is most likely the cause of some traumatic childhood experience involving a crowd – The person may even experience acute anxiety without explanation

12. Biopsychology: Neuroscience Human cognition is nothing more than an interaction of our genes, hormones, and neurotransmitters Introversion/extroversion may be explained by an expression of certain genes and their effect on the brain

13. Evolutionary Perspective Examine human thoughts and actions through natural selection Traits necessary for survival have been passed down the generational line Ex: our extroverted subject makes friends and alliances, thus ensuring survival

14. Behavioral Perspective Behaviors explained in terms of learning (conditioning) Behaviors are performed and based on its consequence will be either repeated or not Ex: If our extroverted subject was praised for doing so, then the behavior will continue. The opposite can be said of punishment Looks at environmental conditions on the learning of the subject

15. Cognitive Perspective Thought and behaviors are examined through our interpretation, processing, and remembering of information How we look at the world is important to determine how we think and behave Ex: If our extroverted subject sees extroversion as important in order to get to know others, then they will engage in such activities

16. Social - Cultural Studies how our thoughts and behaviors vary from others living in other cultures Culture as a catalyst for how we think and act Ex: Our extroverted subject may value extroversion in terms of their culture. If the culture attaches positive views of extroversion then the person will likely follow suit